Secondary Magazine - Issue 120

Welcome to Issue 120 of the Secondary and FE Magazine

Like the recent Grand National competitors, we’re now entering the last leg of the school year, but before the July finish line there are all the hurdles and waterjumps of public exams that we want our pupils to clear successfully…and of course there’s a certain something happening on 7 May that will have impact on all of us. Let us know what you think about the election, either locally in your constituency or on the national scale, by email to info@ncetm.org.uk or on Twitter, @NCETMsecondary.

Contents

Heads Up
Here you will find a checklist of some of the recent, or still current, mathematical events featured in the news, by the media or on the internet: if you want a “heads up” on what to read, watch or do in the next couple of weeks or so, it’s here. This month we’re mentioning the Cambridge Mathematics Framework, assessment without levels, understanding uncertainty, and a certain forthcoming political event!

Building Bridges
The regular feature in which discussion of secondary mathematics topics draws out the inter-connectivity of the topics with preceding, succeeding or surrounding topics, in ways that will support and enrich your teaching in KS3 and KS4. This month: reflections on the bar model.

From the Library
Want to draw on maths research in your teaching but don’t have time to hunker down in the library? Don’t worry, we’ve hunkered for you: in this issue you can be inspired by an article considering how pupils solve geometric problems in circles.

It Stands to Reason
Developing students’ reasoning is a key aim of the new national curriculum Programmes of Study, and this monthly feature shares ideas how to do so. In this issue Andy Tharratt writes about developing sixth formers’ reasoning in the context of curve sketching.